The Curious Case of the Suspicious Substitute
by Story Please
Summary: Severus has a problem. A completely illogical problem. Professor Regnarg is the new substitute professor, and Severus keeps finding her teaching all of the classes at Hogwarts. The problem is that Severus has the odd feeling that he's met her before, a feeling that only gets stronger the more he spends time with her. He must discover her true motives before it is too late.
**Author's Note: Time for another round of all-prompt special. I guess it's time to go back to Hogwarts, which is great, because I'm gonna go ahead and write a (somewhat angsty?) Severus/Hermione story for Mav as well. 3**

* * *

 **Round 2 - Hogwarts Subjects**

 **Subjects for this story: Muggle Studies, History of Magic, Potions, Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, Divination, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration, Astronomy**

I will also be writing about: someone utilising their skills or knowledge of the subject as part of their job, **a student's relationship with their teacher for the subject** , someone doing their homework for the subject, **someone trying to master (an aspect or the entirety of) the subject, someone preparing for or taking an exam in the subject.**

* * *

 **OPTIONAL PROMPTS:**

 **(word) hangover**

 **(dialogue) "This was the most fun I've ever had."**

 **(word) procrastinate**

 **(picture) images.8tracks cover/i/009/284/113/tumblr_nrauxnmSE51sojkzpo1_ ?rect=50,0,400,400 &q=98&fm=jpg&fit=max**

 **(quote) 'I want to see and understand the world outside.' - Eren Jaeger, Attack On Titan.**

 **(song) 'Check Yes, Juliet' by We The Kings**

 **(word) light**

 **(picture) . /2012/09/depositphotos_**

 **(word) watery**

 **(dialogue) "You won't need any sun cream; it's not even that sunny!"**

 **(song) 'Afterlife' by XYLO**

 **(word) throw**

 **(word) articulate**

 **(quote) 'The starting point of all achievement is desire.' - Napoleon Hill**

 **(dialogue) "It happened again, what do I do?"**

* * *

 **The Curious Case of the Suspicious Substitute**

Severus Snape groaned as he dragged his weary body from his bed. If he hadn't known any better, he would have sworn he was **hungover**. The limited **light** filtering through the windows that looked out into the Black Lake felt harsh and painful to his eyes. He let out a weary sigh and stood, hating how old he felt, even though he had only just turned twenty five a month earlier.

Severus shuffled over to the small bathroom area built into his personal quarters and stared at his face in the mirror. His eyes were **watery** and bloodshot. His face was gaunt and even more jaundiced than usual. He smashed cold water on his face, but it didn't do much beyond making him feel cold and soggy.

"Come now," he told his reflection, "Time to get up already. It does no good to **procrastinate**."

He could not quite **articulate** the exact reason for why everything felt somehow _wrong_ to him, but whatever it was, it made him feel like he was about to **throw** up. Luckily, the nausea began to pass as he dressed himself, and by the time he was lacing up his dragonhide boots, he was feeling much more at ease.

He was on his way down the hallway when he heard a hushed voice from behind one of the long hanging tapestries against the wall.

" **It happened again, what do I do?"**

Severus flattened himself against the wall, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. The voice seemed...familiar somehow...but he couldn't put his finger on it.

A robed figure scurried from behind the tapestry moments later, but before Severus could follow, three of his Slytherin students let out a cry of distress behind them as Peeves dropped a whole wastebin filled with paper over their heads. Severus had to dodge as Peeves threw the actual wastebin at his head. He was left with a **piece of graph paper covered with scribbles** plastered across his face. He was rather glad that the Slytherin students had fled, because his hooked nose had pierced a hole in the paper, and so it stuck there, fluttering embarrassingly in the drafty castle air for several long seconds before Severus could finally free his hands and pull it off. Glaring darkly at the scribbly paper, Severus tossed it into the air and pointed his wand at it, smirking with satisfaction when the paper incinerated instantly.

He turned back, hoping to see a glimpse of the robed figure, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The blank stone wall behind the tapestry was similarly unhelpful. **Cursing his eternally bad luck, Severus stormed off to the Great Hall, wondering all the while if he would have to wait until the afterlife to catch a break.** Breakfast was pretty normal, though the Care for Magical Creatures professor was notably absent. Severus didn't think much of it, though, as not all of the professors were required to live at the castle, and Kettleburn lived in Hogsmeade with his family.

There was plenty to keep his mind engaged all morning, as exams were coming up and he spent more than half of his morning double Potions class with a small group of students who were studying diligently to bring up their failing grades. Severus didn't have much in the way of high hopes for any of them other than Fletcher Cadogan, who swore up and down that he was the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of the original Sir Cadogan, the knight whom the moving painting near Gryffindor Tower was modeled after. Fletcher had been out for most of the past month after his brother had been eaten by dragons. Severus tried to reserve judgement, but he had known Fletcher's older brother when they'd been in school together, and was pretty sure that it had been said brother's fault. Fletcher was the consummate Ravenclaw, forcing himself to study endlessly to master Potions, as he wished to land an apprenticeship and attain Potions mastery after graduation. Though he was only in his fifth year, Severus could see that Fletcher was likely going to be able to reach his goal easily.

It was, therefore, rather surprising when Severus found Fletcher standing by the doors to his office looking utterly despondent right before the lunch hour was about to start.

"A hippogriff ate my Potions textbook and my homework in Care of Magical Creatures!" he cried.

Severus took one look at the boy's distraught expression and the small shredded pieces of paper grasped in his hand, and motioned for the boy to follow him into his office.

"Be glad that some students donate old copies of their textbooks to the classroom after they finish the class," Severus said, motioning to a cabinet with his wand and unlocking it. "Do be sure that you do not feed this one to said hippogriff."

"The worst part is that it wasn't even my fault," Fletcher grumbled, "it was the stupid substitute professor."

Severus froze.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"The substitute. A Professor Regnarg. Weird name. Sounds Slavic or something. She accidentally let a hippogriff into the locker room where we hang our rucksacks and the damned thing ate and destroyed half of them! I mean, she said that she didn't mean to do it, but it's pretty impossible for the blasted thing to simply unlock its own stable and go traipsing into the student locker area.

Severus felt an unexpected flutter of panic rising in his belly. Even though he had no reason to be suspicious of this substitute professor, he could feel a strange sense of having had this exact conversation before.

"I shall speak with her, then," Severus said, hoping that his concern wasn't showing on his face. "Be certain to finish all of your homework by Wednesday morning, Cadogan. I do not accept _hippogriff meddling_ as an acceptable reason for shoddy work."

"Yes, Sir!" Fletcher chirped, grasping his new book like a precious tome in his arms and leaving at a near-run.

Severus sighed. He didn't have the heart to tell the boy not to run in the halls.

"Am I really getting so soft already?" he muttered aloud to himself, feeling very much older than his twenty years of age.

It didn't help that Voldemort was still looking for Lily and her family, and Severus was being stretched thin as a double spy when all he really wanted was to get away and never have to see either Voldemort or Dumbledore ever again. He didn't even want Lily to know what he'd done to help. She was in danger, after all, and had more to think about with her family having grown. Besides, it really didn't help that it was all his own damn fault that it had happened to begin with.

He needed to think.

* * *

 **"You won't need any sun cream; it's not even that sunny!"** The unwanted advice came from behind him and Severus glared daggers at Professor McGonagall, who'd stepped into the staff so quietly that he wondered if she'd done so in her animagus form.

"For your information, Minerva," he replied grumpily, slathering on more of the greasy lotion, "My skin has two settings: white as a sightless fish and red as a lobster. I prefer the former better than the latter, seeing as it is a great deal less painful."

"Oh pish-posh! You really do worry too much, Severus!" she replied with an exasperated smile, shaking her head before heading over to speak with Professor Sprout, who had entered through the other door at the opposite end of the room.

Severus finished his ablations and headed towards the front door to the castle. He was going to get answers, and if he had to get out into the sunlight, so be it.

Professor Kettleburn was feeding the thestrals as Severus rounded the corner and froze.

"Ah! Hello, Severus!" Kettleburn waved a piece of raw meat in the air in greeting and an ambitious thestral colt flew into the air and snatched it from the professor's fingers.

"Professor," Severus replied, staring warily at the skeletal creatures.

"Don't worry, they don't bite unless you've got dead flesh on your body, in which case, you probably have bigger problems on your hands," Kettleburn replied affably with a short laugh.

"I heard that you had a substitute yesterday. Were you unwell?" Severus asked, getting right to the heart of the matter.

Kettleburn rubbed his head and looked confused.

"Not so as I can recall," he mused, "But it's quite possible that I'm forgetting in my old age. You know, I hope to retire within the next couple of years before I lose another limb and what's left of the ol' memory!"

Kettleburn laughed, and turned around, pulling some more meat from icebox on the ground to give to the thestrals. Severus had a vague feeling of wrongness as he stood there, and mumbled a soft goodbye to the Care of Magical Creatures professor before stomping back up towards the castle.

Severus sat down at lunch and immediately realized that the DADA professor, a Mr. Marcellus Grooblin, was noticeably absent. He was about to comment on this to Flitwick when the side door opened and Minerva entered, leading a woman in dark brown robes in by the arm.

"Come on, then, dear girl!" Minerva was saying kindly, "Do sit and have some lunch with us. After all, you are filling in for Marcellus today. There, you can sit over in his seat. I'm sure he won't mind."

Severus stared at the woman, whose bushy brown hair fell in long snarls around her face and reached all the way to the small of her back. She had a look on her face that was one part irritation and one part discomfort. He looked away as soon as she glanced in his direction, suddenly finding the hourglasses at the back of the Great Hall eminently interesting to look at. She sat down in the empty chair next to him and exhaled deeply, resting her head on her arms.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Severus said, his lips twitching in the tiniest of smirks. "When the food appears on the plate in front of you, it will likely get in your hair, which the little blighters out there will notice and will then use to make your life hell."

The professor turned her head to the side and glared at him through her hair before sitting up, her gaze never leaving him. There was something about it that struck Severus as painfully familiar, and yet, he still couldn't remember how he knew it.

"Do I know you?" Severus asked, puzzled.

Just then, the food appeared and the mysterious professor began to stuff food into her mouth haphazardly, shrugging at him and pointing to her mouth as though he couldn't see that it was full. She ate quickly and washed down her meal with pumpkin juice.

"I'm sorry," she said, tapping Minerva on the elbow gently, "but I really need to get to my classroom and set up for the afternoon lessons."

She fled the room before Severus could so much as open his mouth.

Something about her voice filled his belly with butterflies, a feeling that he had not experienced more than a handful of times in his life...at least...he thought that it was a feeling that he had not experienced more than a handful of times in his life. He was beginning to be unsure about whether or not this was actually true. Her name- he didn't really know it, but somehow he did. Professor Regnarg...but no, that wasn't quite right. Her name was...what was it again?

Severus didn't know, and not knowing made him cross, and being cross meant that he needed to find out more.

"What is her name?" Severus caught Minerva as she was stepping into her Transfiguration classroom.

"Hmmm? Oh, Professor Regnarg? Her name is...Hermione, I think." Minerva seemed puzzled before she nodded decisively. "Of course, that's her name. Hermione."

"Shakespeare...interesting," Severus said, more to himself than to Minerva, who shook her head and went into her classroom so as not to be late.

Severus turned and stomped towards the Potions classroom, his thumb clenched tightly between his teeth as he desperately racked his brain for where he'd met her before.

* * *

That night, he dreamed of a woman with a halo of bushy chestnut snarls that framed her face. He grinned uncharacteristically as he kissed her cheek softly before moving towards her lips. He didn't know exactly how he'd found himself in bed with the beautiful Professor Regnarg, and part of his brain screamed at him that it was all just a silly dream anyway and therefore meant nothing, but something about it felt so achingly _right_ that he nearly cried out in happiness.

As he pressed his nose against her throat, her scent brought back so many memories, faded and discolored and impossible, but somehow also true. He couldn't explain it. It was insanity, and yet, it was also perfection.

Severus was about to pull away when she wrapped her arms around him and rolled over on top of him, kissing him deeply as he melted into her.

He would do _anything_ , no matter how much it hurt himself to make her happy.

And yet, when he looked into her eyes, they were sad, and he hated that sadness, would do anything to banish it from her honey-brown eyes.

"Don't forget me this time around, Severus," she said, kissing the tip of his nose tenderly.

"I won't," he gasped back, trembling under her touch and wrapping his arms tightly around her.

She promptly dissolved into smoke and slipped from his grasp.

Severus woke up with a sharp cry, his hands grasping at twisted, sweat-soaked sheets. He couldn't fall asleep again, not after that dream. He pulled on his dark robes and began to stalk down the hallways, finding his way up to the Astronomy Tower to look at the stars.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that there would be a class in session.

Professor Regnarg stood with her telescope pointed at Ophiuchus and the massive star-snake, Serpens, which was held in the great stellar doctor's hands to heal the sick and injured. She froze, her eyes going wide when she saw Severus skulking in the shadows, even though the rest of the class did not appear to realize he was there.

The professor handed out the directions on the assignment and left the students to their telescopes before moving towards the stairs and looking at Severus with a perplexed expression.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed quietly, obviously somewhat annoyed. Something about the way she stared at him gave Severus that strange butterfly feeling again.

"I suppose I could ask you the same question," Severus replied softly, his voice as silky and dark as the night around them. "Professor Sinistra was not at all ill when I saw her only a few hours earlier."

"Well, unfortunately…." Professor Regnarg trailed off, her nose twitching slightly, "...something came up, so I got called in."

"I can tell that you're lying, Hermione." Severus covered his mouth with his hand to stop the name from escaping his lips, but it was too late. He couldn't say why her name sounded so natural rolling off his tongue, but the simple fact that it _was_ so easy was starting to scare him.

And Severus Snape was not the sort who frightened easily.

Professor Regnarg went scarlet and bit her lip, obviously trying to hold back an outburst.

"I...can't do this, not again," she said, finally. "Please leave, Severus."

He opened his mouth as though about to protest, but then nodded and turned to go. He froze instantly when he felt the warmth of Hermione's hand envelop his and turned his head to look at her. She looked back at him with a surprisingly tender look for a near-stranger.

"There's a famous quote by **Napoleon Hill, that goes something like ''The starting point of all achievement is desire'** ," Hermione said, her voice cracking slightly, "but I have found that sometimes, desire and achievement can be at odds with one another. I must achieve my goal, even if my desire is contrary to that goal. I...hope that you can understand."

Severus wasn't sure what to make of her words, but it was just as well, as a student came to ask a question of Professor Regnarg, and it was the perfect time for him to beat a swift retreat.

* * *

"Sir, why is Professor Regnarg substituting classes? We've never had a substitute professor before!" Severus drummed his fingers on the Headmaster's desk nervously, his eyes narrow and full of exhaustion. He hadn't been able to sleep well all night long, and now, he felt even more irritable as Albus grinned affably and peered at him over his half-moon glasses.

"Severus, _Severus_ ," Dumbledore tutted, "Surely you can't be suspicious of her?"

"I am a double agent for you and pose as a spy for the Dark Lord. It is my nature to be suspicious." Severus crossed his arms and gave Dumbledore an obstinate look.

"I have gone through...appropriate channels to vet her out," Dumbledore said mildly with the tiniest of shrugs. "Is my word not good enough for you?"

"But sir! I've caught her substituting for at _least_ half of the classes in Hogwarts within this past week! You've got to admit that it's a bit strange!"

"I seem to recall that she substituted for you in Potions class a couple of weeks ago," Dumbledore replied.

"No, that's not-" Severus paused, thinking back. He couldn't really remember. When he tried to pinpoint a moment, the days just seemed to run together.

"In any case, Severus, I wanted to tell you. Lily and her family are doing fine. I hope that soon, you will have fulfilled your part of our agreement. I will, of course, require a few things of you until the unpleasantness surrounding your former employer wears off, but other than that, I can promise you that which you have always dreamed of."

"My freedom…" Severus muttered softly. No. That wasn't right. He wanted to be free of the guilt, of the sensation that he could never do anything without hurting others. His mother's bitterness and his father's cruelty were the only gifts he could remember having received from his parents other than his mother's wand after she'd died in a drunk driving accident along with his father.

"There's something else…" Severus frowned, unsure of whether to say anything about his dream.

"Severus, the less you think about Miss Regnarg, the better," Dumbledore replied, his eyes growing momentarily cold before he smiled and patted the Potions master on the shoulder. "Now then, off you go!"

* * *

Severus began noticing inconsistencies almost immediately. He'd see Professor Regnarg down by the Black Lake from through the windows, then walk down past the library and see her exiting the doors quietly. Severus knew she couldn't have apparated, and knew that there was no way she could have run there so quickly. Other thing bothered him as well. Flitwick didn't seem to remember having been sick, yet Professor Regnarg had been teaching his Charms class. Students whispered about her, but no one seemed to be able to remember what exactly happened in her classes.

His suspicions grew after the Dark Lord called him one Saturday night and probed him for information on Miss Regnarg. Apparently, she'd been caught stealing something from Malfoy Manor, and escaped from it. The Dark Lord was furious, and had postponed all further raids on possible prophecy children to get the item back.

"You will sneak into her quarters," Voldemort hissed, "and you will take from her what she has stolen before she harms it."

"My Lord, what is it that you would have me retrieve?" Severus asked, not daring to look at the man before him.

"A book of dark magic. You shall feel it when you come into contact with it. It is of no concern to you. You are forbidden to read it, or write in it. Do not harm her unless it is necessary. We will punish her later once the object is retrieved. Do you understand our commands?"

"Yes, Lord."

Severus Apparated back into Hogsmeade feeling decidedly queasy.

He knew that he had to obey his orders, but he had no idea where Hermione Regnarg lived. So he did what any man trapped between two masters and puzzled by a mystery would do- he went to peruse the books at the Shady Oak Bookstore.

* * *

 **Severus sat next to the front of the Three Broomsticks with a cup of coffee and his book open to a random page.** He'd been flipping through it and skimming the chapters, his eyes darting towards the door or out the big glass window in front of him every few minutes. For someone who was supposed to be a spy, he felt stupidly obvious. He flipped the spelled bookmark that the shop had given him for free between his thumb and forefinger. Each time he flipped it, a new quote appeared on the side in a golden magical script. He glanced down at it idly.

 _"Don't remember to forget that you have to forget to remember."_

"That makes absolutely no sense!" Snape hissed at the bookmark, feeling horribly silly when one of the patrons near the bar seemed to overhear, turned, and gave him an odd look.

Snape quickly crumpled it into a sad cardboard ball and tossed it into a nearby wastepaper basket with a snort of disapproval. It was then that the door opened and Professor Regnarg entered.

Severus rose, leaving his book and tea on the table.

"Professor!" he said, raising his hand in what he hoped looked like an amiable greeting.

Hermione turned and looked at him with a shocked expression, her face growing deathly pale in the cheery candlelight of the pub. It was as though she knew exactly what he was hoping to do.

"Severus, you can't," she said exasperatedly, "I'm sorry, but I have to...go."

She rushed back out the door and Severus followed, his heart beating quickly with curiosity. This didn't feel right at all, just like all of those other times. She ran around a corner and he thought that he saw a golden light flash once before it faded. When he reached the damp alleyway between the Three Broomsticks and Madam Puddifoot's, he could see no place where Hermione could have disappeared, and did not see the telltale shimmer of a Disillusionment spell. Severus bit at his lip with irritation until he tasted blood.

Being polite wasn't working. He would have to try a more direct strategy.

* * *

"You won't get away from me this time!" Severus snarled, his hands slamming into the wall on either side of Hermione at the back of the library.

She shrank back, holding her books to her chest even more tightly as though shielding herself from him. Severus was actually surprised that she hadn't pulled out her wand.

"I know you're up to something, and you've got stolen property on your person!" he said in his most accusatory tone of voice as he glowered down at her, "I am tired of being ignored and avoided. You will tell me the truth, or I shall pull it from your mind."

Hermione's eyes went a funny dark color, and Severus could see that she'd learned at least a little Occlumency.

 _Interesting_.

"A fair party trick," he said, a hint of pride in his voice, "but even Occlumency cannot do much to hide the truth when faced with _this_."

He pulled out the tiny phial of Veritaserum with a ghoulish grin spreading across his lips.

"You wouldn't!" Hermione gasped.

"Have you known me to lie?" Severus replied darkly.

Hermione shook her head.

"Tell me why I see you everywhere, even when is impossible. Tell me why I remember... _things_...that I should not remember. Tell me _why_...why do I feel like calling you Hermione is a _suitable_ manner to address a professor who was a complete stranger a mere week ago?" Severus asked, his voice growing shrill with a rising insistence.

"Oh, Severus, what am I going to do with you?" Hermione said tenderly, raising her hand and resting it against his cheek gently.

Severus froze, his eyes wide with shock at the physical contact, but he didn't pull away.

"Every time, I try to find a better way, one that will stop the evil from growing and let us be free, and every time, something happens to stop me from reaching my goal. I tried to ignore you this time around, Severus, I really did. I thought that if we never got involved, that maybe you wouldn't...I just...I can't…"

And with that, she leaned forward and kissed him firmly on the lips.

Severus knew that he should break away from her and run, and he would have, but something kept him there with her, and he was beginning to realize what it was.

"This...this has happened before…" he gasped.

"Many times, Severus, in many ways. Each time, I change the course of history, and each time, I have to go back and rework it. But this time...this time you _remembered_ me." Hermione smiled sadly.

"Not _everything_ ," Severus replied, an odd feeling of weightlessness rising in his chest like a flickering flame.

"I trust you, Severus," Hermione said, her dark eyes growing bright and honey-brown as she removed her mental defenses and gazed up at him.

He gulped loudly and summoned his courage. He wasn't a natural Legilimens like Dumbledore or the Dark Lord, but he was skilled enough at it after years of practice. If she wanted to be read, then he would do it to the best of his ability..

"Show me," he whispered, grasping her tightly and slipping into her mind.

Memories swirled around him in a flickering frenzy. He saw Hermione defying the Dark Lord, bringing various objects to Dumbledore, only to watch him destroy them with a long, ornate sword. In each timeline, Hermione helped the Headmaster destroy these ideas, and then Dumbledore himself went to fight against Voldemort. But he could see in every timeline how Hermione had grown unexpectedly close to him, from friendship to...more intimate matters. He could feel himself blushing madly at a few of the memories that made some of his inappropriate dreams seem like nothing. But each memory ended with his death. Sometimes Voldemort killed him. Other times, it was Bellatrix. Sometimes he was tortured. Sometimes Hermione got to him before the life drained from his eyes. Once, he lay staring sightlessly at the sky and Hermione ran to him, cradling his head as she sobbed horribly. She pulled out a golden item from under her robes and twisted it, vanishing completely. Severus watched, both transfixed and horrified at the magnitude of her suffering.

"I keep trying to save you, but I'm never able to get there in time," Hermione said thickly, her eyes brimming with tears. "I...save them all, except for the one I love most."

Severus stared at her, stunned. The idea that anyone cared about him at all, much less to this degree was nearly impossible for him to fathom. The way that his heart thudded in his chest, however, told him otherwise. He was indeed able to fathom her feelings and reciprocate them, even as he tried to silence the little cruel voice in the back of his mind that told him it was all a trap.

"I came back to fix everything once and for all, so that no one had to live in the shadow of an unfinished war. Albus and I have been working on this project for some time now. He destroyed the last horcrux today," she explained tearfully, "Soon, the final battle will begin in earnest, but I don't know if my heart can take losing you again."

"There is another option," Severus replied, opening his hand.

"It's...a rock," Hermione replied skeptically. "Is this some sort of wizarding custom I'm not aware of?"

"It is also a dormant Portkey with an activation signature build into it. It was my mother's, but she never used it. I have been saving it for a very, very long time."

"Oh," Hermione replied. " _Oh_!"

A loud explosion from outside the castle made them both jump.

"This way, Hermione!" Severus said urgently, taking her by the hand, " **They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance."**

Hermione made a surprised squawk, but followed him up the stairs as others began to run towards the noise. Finally, they reached the Astronomy Tower, bursting through the doors to the open observatory area, their chests heaving with exertion.

"Hold onto me, Hermione," Severus said through gritted teeth, his arm burning urgently with a summons from the Dark Lord. "You can hold the Portkey. Activate it when I tell you it's safe."

Hermione grabbed the stone from him and grabbed him tightly around the neck. He grabbed her tightly as well and they lifted off of the ground together. Hermione gasped and held him more tightly, which was uncomfortable, but also strangely comforting.

He could feel the tingle of the wards covering Hogwarts as they slipped through them. They were thinnest here, because no one expected any air traffic beyond the owls.

"Now! Press it on both sides simultaneously!" he grunted, the burning in his arm so bad that he felt as though he was on fire. Hermione pressed it and they vanished together with a thundering crack.

* * *

The young couple walked hand in hand down the pier together. It looked as though they might have been newlyweds. The man, though young, exuded a very severe air about him, as though he'd never known much kindness in his life. The woman, though beautiful, has a very weary look around her eyes, as though she'd been through many tribulations.

" **This was the most fun I've ever had,"** she said, twining her fingers through his.

"I should hope so," he replied with a chuckle, "It was our wedding day, after all."

Hermione wrapped her fingers around the Time Turner around her neck- the sands inside had long ago depleted, but she wore it anyway as a reminder.

"You know, I once received a piece of paper from the future," she remarked as she leaned on the railing and looked out at the ocean. "It was back when I was getting it calibrated by the Unspeakables at the Ministry. It popped out the top like a fortune cookie."

"What did it say?" Severus asked bemusedly, putting his arm around his wife.

"It said, _**'I want to see and understand the world outside.'**_ **It was attributed to a man named Eren Jaeger, even though I don't have the faintest clue what he meant by that.** Sometimes, though, I felt very much like I was trapped inside a nightmare that would never end until I finally conceded to the fact that no matter what I did to save you, I'd already lost you forever."

"Well, then, how are you enjoying it?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What, exactly?" Hermione asked, flushing slightly.

"The world _outside_ your time loop," Severus said, bending forward and kissing her on the forehead.

"I think that it is unspeakably wonderful, Severus," Hermione replied, nuzzling his nose with her own. "Of course, I am rather biased."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Severus replied, kissing her deeply.

They watched the sunset together in silence, but it was a comfortable silence.

All things considered, Severus felt surprisingly optimistic about the future. The Mark on his arm had faded away to nothing, and it hadn't been long until the local Parisian wizarding newspapers announced that Voldemort had been vanquished once and for all. As Severus stared deeply into Hermione's eyes, he cracked a warm, genuine smile for the first time in many years, even though he knew it looked awkward and unpracticed on his face. For he knew that if someone like Hermione could love a bitter, ugly bloke like himself, anything was possible.


End file.
